In his debut album Withers demonstrates his universal, mature competence as a singer, composer and performer, which was hardly surpassed in his later recordings. "Harlem", an unadorned milieu-funk number about the New York slums, "Grandma's Hands", with it's obligatory retrospect of his childhood, and the sentimental ballad "Ain't No Sunshine" with it's prayer-wheel-like -I know, I know...®, repeated over and over again on the offbeat, are the musical credo of a experienced artist in his mid-thirties who at last is given a hearing. There's simply no alternative to this recording by the great songwriter with the small repertoire.